The open source movement is shocked, shocked! to learn that it is difficult to get large numbers of people to spend large amounts of time working on large projects for no pay.

According to ComputerWorld:

Project contributors speaking at the annual OpenOffice.org miniconference in Canberra this week raised numerous issues, including a lack of independent contributors.

OpenOffice.org developer Ken Foskey said the biggest problem with the project is a lack of developers and a code base that is "just too big". . . . . "It's 10 million lines of code and takes serious commitment just to compile the thing." . . . . "The code base ranges from good to code that is 20 years old," he said. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to work on OpenOffice, but it bloody well helps."

Sun is the largest contributor to the project, with 50 developers. Its spokesman said:

"For something that was originally written for Windows 3.1 and OS/2, the fact that it now runs on Linux and Solaris is a significant achievement."

But (Double Duh!), there is a free rider problem! The Sun guy also said that Sun "welcomes contributions from both individuals and organizations that use the productivity suite," and "Ask IBM why it uses OpenOffice but doesn't contribute to it."

(Link from Tony Healy, Senior Fellow of the IPI.)